Not a success, but not a total failure either. The taste was decent, but I ended up with way too much dough relative to sauce cheese. the dough way just too thick. I used the recipe in the original post and split it into two 9" pans (lodge logic calls it a 9" pan, but the actual cooking surface is about 7 1/2" diameter). I think I could have done four pies from the recipe. The pan in the picture is 1 3/4" deep.

Because the crust was too thick, it did not really cook enough all the way through. Cutting the thickness in half or so should fix that.

Also, I think the oil could be cut in about half.

I have photos but gave up on trying to upload them to the site. The server was having none of it.

For several years, before Pizza Hut went to frozen dough in the U.S., it used dry milk products in some of its doughs. These days, there aren't many chains or pizza operators who do so. Vito & Nick's, who specialize in the Chicago thin-crust style pizza, use fresh milk, as do some pizza operators who specialize in the Greek-style pizza. Round Table used dry milk in its dough at one point and may still be doing so, and I believe that Donatos went from fresh milk to dry milk.

Not a success, but not a total failure either. The taste was decent, but I ended up with way too much dough relative to sauce cheese. the dough way just too thick. I used the recipe in the original post and split it into two 9" pans (lodge logic calls it a 9" pan, but the actual cooking surface is about 7 1/2" diameter). I think I could have done four pies from the recipe. The pan in the picture is 1 3/4" deep.

Because the crust was too thick, it did not really cook enough all the way through. Cutting the thickness in half or so should fix that.

Steve,

A lot of members had trouble with the amount of dough called for in the original PH pan dough recipe. For that reason, I scaled the recipe down to the actual amount of dough that PH was using for its 14" size pizza. You can see the scaled down version at Reply 6 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4607.msg38909.html#msg38909. The thickness factor for that recipe is 0.14291. If you use that thickness factor in the expanded dough calculating tool along with all of the other numbers (baker's percents) in the recipe in Reply 6 referenced above, you should be able to make as many pizzas as you would like and in any desired size.

I saw earlier in the thread someone said the whey contributed to browning. Is there a difference in whey between powdered milk and liquid milk?

Steve,

I can't say for sure but I would imagine if that you add back the right amount of water to reconstitute the particular dried form of milk (whole, nonfat, reduced-fat, etc.), the whey content should be the same unless the drying process destroyed part of the whey. If you research the different forms of liquid milk at the NutritionData.Self website at http://nutritiondata.self.com/, you will see that the range of water content for the different forms of milk is about 87-89%.

I used the dough calculator as you suggested. My 9" cast iron pans have a 7 1/2" cooking surface. I am not sure if that means I should use a 7 1/2" pie in the calculator or something smaller as the original recipe called for making a 12" dough for the 14" pan. Of course, I don't know if his 14" pan actually had a 14" cooking surface! Aye caramba.

I used the dough calculator as you suggested. My 9" cast iron pans have a 7 1/2" cooking surface. I am not sure if that means I should use a 7 1/2" pie in the calculator or something smaller as the original recipe called for making a 12" dough for the 14" pan. Of course, I don't know if his 14" pan actually had a 14" cooking surface! Aye caramba.

Steve,

You can see how the thickness factor and pan sizes are used in the expanded dough calculating tool at Reply 140 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,213.msg84184.html#msg84184. Since your dimensions suggest that your cast iron pans have sloping sides, with the major diameter being 9" and the minor diameter being 7 1/2", you might want to use something between those two numbers in the expanded dough calculating tool. Maybe 8" or 8 1/4" will do the trick. You can always tweak the numbers further in the future if you generally like the results you get.

If the Dough Doctor says that anything under 5% dry milk addition will not make any difference in the dough why do I see small amounts being used on many forum recipes?

Bob,

That is a very good question.

According to what Tom has said, there is some dough strengthening effect even when using below 5% dry milk. That might help if the dough is to be run through a sheeter or roller of some sort but I tend not to think that that is why some pizza operators use dry milk. I think that a lot of pizza operators just decided to add some milk to their dough, simply because they had it or maybe to satisfy their curiosity. They perhaps liked the results, or perceived such, and just decided to continue to use it and the recipe eventually became a family or legendary recipe to be handed down from generation to generation and guarded like it was Fort Knox. It might have also been used as a differentiating factor. For example, for years, Donatos boasted about the health effects of the milk in their dough (and eggs as well). They no longer do that. At Vito & Nick's in the Chicago area, milk (fresh milk) is a hallmark ingredient for their dough for their famous Chicago thin-crust pizza. I don't think they would ever dare to leave the milk out of their dough. Their customers would be picketing the joint. I might add that V&N uses a roller for their skins so the milk (at around 12% of the flour weight by my calculation) may have a beneficial effect for that purpose.

If Steve (slybarman) would like to replicate the "old" and, arguably, "better" PH pan dough, without all the chemicals. he might consider using a dairy blend. Dutch Valley uses to sell it but I could not find it among the products at its website this morning. But I found another source: http://www.roundeyesupply.com/Land-O-Lakes-Superheat-All-Dairy-Blend-p/de127782.htm. Or Steve can make his own dairy blend using the same ingredients. His kids will thank him for the added nutrition.

Thanks Peter.I do use about 11% milk(liquid 2%)in my Chicago thins and around 5%(dry powdered) in cracker crusts. I "perceive" a difference and like using it in my doughs. Maybe Steve will try it and tell us what he thinks....Bob